Secret Ingredients

more of a combo here. I like using black patent and roasted barley together in my irs brews. most folks use one or the other. I feel it gives more of a roasty bite which is what I want.

 

1) For an IPA: Almost any Pale Ale malt/light continental Munich/malted wheat 50/30/20

2) Mediocre mash efficiency...soft crush, minimal sparging, and collection*

3) Homegrown hops/lupulin floating in my pint : )

*obviously not an ingredient, but what the hell

 

For me is probably something that I really don't use, that perhaps most do.

Yeast Nutrient, and whirlfloc.

I ran out of both, and never noticed a difference in flavor or numbers. And after reading the Brulosophers post on Trub...... I don't fear loads of Trub/cold break.

 

I have no secret ingredients. I spend too much time telling everyone what I do.

 

I don't use it because it's useless for me and my process. Hoppy beers I bag my hops, and then dump the whole kettle into the fermenter(not hop bags). I do the same thing for lagers. My lagers are crystal clear in a week with gelatin and a few weeks with no gelatin.

If I was worried about all the break material going into the fermentor then I would use whirlfloc as it does help. But I see no need for it.

 

I've picked these up over the years. They are not mine, but I use them effectively.

1. Blend pale chocolate and regular chocolate to a total of 125% when a recipe calls for chocolate malt
2. Add a pound of golden naked oats to stouts/porters
3. Add a tablespoon of fresh grapefruit zest (from the red part) to last day of primary of citrusy DIPAs.
4. Sub equivalent color English crystal malts for "C" malts.

 

We are the only ones.

Are you using GNO instead of flaked malts, or in addition to flaked?

 

Ok, got another one which none of you dudes got. I utilize my dogs uncanny ability to create secret formulations during the hop harvest.

Errr, well, sort of. Every 5 minutes once the boil starts, I toss a dog bone and if she catches it I pour in 1 cup of fresh hops. And since this insanity began during a Drunkin Brewer Series brew day, I did not realize I was using a 2 cup measureing cup so between the dog, consuming 1 or more beers than I did not require and improper measureing proceedures , dats my other secret. hahahhahhaaha

 

You recently posted another - citric acid in ipa . I tried it, with inconclusive results. That ipa had some hops that I'm not sure I like. I'll try it again with some tried and true centennials.

 

It depends on the recipe. Generally I n addition to for stouts and for my Baltic porters I use no flaked except for GNO.

 

2-4 oz of honey malt seems to sneak its way into just about everything I brew, that devil.

 

Some that I use:

-small amount of Figs and Golden raisins in Belgian Quad
-small amount of Pelloncillo in strong ales and old ales (Sometimes I will use figs and golden raisins in addition to peloncillo)
-Use honey for priming/carbonating Big Hoppy IPA's
-Cubeb berries in any beer I wish to have a subtle spice/pepper component
-Dry-weeded barleywine if I want a combo buzz beer
-Peaches, pineapple and/or mangoes in sour saisons. Sometimes kumquats.

I've used a lot of other stuff over the years and still do, but the list above is fairly consistent. Don't always stick to this as a rule, but often this is what I do.

 

This was a down-under hopped IPA - some Nelson, Motueka, and Wakatu

 

Jolly Pumpkin dregs in almost all of my sours.

 

Citric acid

 

I will discuss both ingredients and techniques.

1. Because I don't have a sprinkler for sparging, I pour hot water over heavy aluminum foil that has holes in it laid over the mash tun.

2. I love Maris Otter malt. Nice grainy/biscuity flavor. I will blend a bit of it into almost all of my grain bill.

3. Cold crash after primary fermentation. Always.

4. Whirl flock

5. If making a beer with OG> 1.080, I will brew a small beer first to make a yeast cake to pitch the whole thing. Never had a stuck fermentation.

6. I love oak/barrel flavor. I add it to fermentation on many beers for complexity.